Only Grans of a left wing persuasion need read

Kes is described on Wiki as one of the films you must see before you are 14. So it is suitable for older DGCs. The book was at one point on the English curriculum in schools. There is some bad language and the end is very upsetting but I think the message would still be understood by today's kids.

I wouldn't risk showing it to my grandchildren; I got in enough trouble when one of them was traumatised by watching a dvd of The Velveteen Rabbit that I'd bought for them #neverseem2getitright

I used to teach Kes to 11 year olds. They really enjoyed it.

I've been out most of the day, but when we came back here, I told my son and his partner about the Ken Loach programme. We started watching it, but it's difficult with the grandchildren wanting attention. However, they watched enough to say that they were going to watch it all the way through after the kids had gone to bed, so they could give it the attention it deserved.

One of the things they did say was how much Ken Loach cared about people. They've watched The Wind that Shook the Barley a couple of times.
Like Cillian Murphy said to Loach, "We need film makers like you now."

I guess he finds it more and more difficult to get funding for his films these days.

Jimmy's Hasll sounds quite interesting. It's ten years on from The Wind that Shakes the Barley, and was only made last year.
I'd never heard of it until the programme. Have to get a DVD of it.

Sorry, Jimmy's Hall.

Don't think if he was starting out today Ken Loach would find it at all easy to get funding. 2 of our greatest film makers came through the BBC route (Mike Leigh and Ken Loach) which is certainly closed. Films with social messages are made but only occasionally. The last one I think was probably Shane Meadow's "This is England". Funded through local arts money which I suspect has dried up.

Trisher, he actually said he wouldn't be allowed to make the films today.
In fact there were a few documentaries he made that have never been seen. They were banned by Channel 4. These were the ones about the trade union leaders rolling over to Thatcher. I think they were called Questions of Leadership.
After he'd made those, he ended up having to make commercials, but he was bad at those because he questioned the research! Sounds right, doesn't it?

Just been checking my rows of DVDs and discovered I have half a dozen Ken Loach ones.
"It's a Free World" is another one that probably would not be made today, about immigrant workers, made the year after Wind that Shakes the Barley.

www.theguardian.com/media/2015/jun/21/nick-robinson-cameron-threatened-close-down-bbc-election-bus

Support here for what Ken Loach said.
Why has Nick Robinson only told about it now? Why not before the election?

I think Nick Robinson was on sick leave for most of the run up to the election, having treatment for lung cancer.

That's right janer, he talked about that on a politics programme a few weeks ago.

It's me loopy!
janea

Poor janea !

I tend to lurk and not post on the political threads. My own beliefs are perfectly summed up here. www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpiIWMWWVco

ianer these are mine
m.youtube.com/watch?v=FjoqBaW6OMk

Love those!

player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-the-selfish-giant-2013/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=BFI%20Player%20-%20Film%20Titles&utm_term=%2Bselfish%20%2Bgiant

This was a film worth watching.

Yes, sorry, janea, I forgot about that.
But why did the people who told Nick Robinson not tell us what Cameron had said before the election?

Saw an advert for a new This is England on E4 tonight so it's still going. Shane Meadows is someone else that sometimes gives a talk at our cinema.

janea! I came up in the same place in every questionnaire I did. Maybe we should start up a new party and call it 'Gran Central'. Or 'Gran Central Nation' if we are feeling particularly punny.

Currently I am just happy not to be greek. For all our country's faults, it's a darn sight better than many/any others, in my opinion.

Couldn't agree more, janer.
We had a holiday in Greece two years ago and the people just seemed so grateful that someone was putting money into their economy.

I once thought that a 'Common Sense' party would be worth starting, but common sense varies so much. The worst thing about politics is that the very people who shouldn't be in charge of anything are the ones who push themselves forward, and the ones who would be really great wouldn't touch party politics with a barge pole. Or any politics.

Anyway, most politicians are just the enabling wing of big business.

JaneA - there used to be a Pensioner's Party, it still exists, but probably short of funds like the rest of us older people. I once went to one of their meetings, but it was when I was still working so I didn't have time to get involved.
I've watched the Ken Loach interview - I found out he's the same age as me, so we lived through the same kind of experiences in childhood and adolescence. I can see completely how he has formed his opinions.
In my view WW2 was a great leveller. Prewar the old class sytem prevaled, but by the end of the war everyone was feeling the pinch.
Slowly but surely the traditional class system returns, added to by the rise of the meritocracy of the 50s and 60s.
It's the old story, those with the money control and put down those without.

Joan The problem with your idea is that common sense isn't – common, that is.